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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Sandia and Aeva evaluate intrusion detection system
Sandia National Laboratories is collaborating with the California-based Aeva Technologies, a developer of next-generation sensing and perception systems, on the development of technology for strengthening security at U.S. nuclear reactor sites.
Changhu Xing, Casey J. Jesse, Warren F. Jones, Maxine P. Johnson, Ann Marie Phillips, Theron D. Marshall
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 7 | July 2023 | Pages 1467-1478
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2153599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Knowing the thickness of the oxide layer on the surface of aluminum fuel cladding is vitally important for predicting fuel temperature due to the low thermal conductivity of the oxide layer. Several correlation models for predicting oxide growth can be found in the literature. In previous research, the correlations were combined with heat transfer simulations in Abaqus, a finite element analysis code, to forecast the oxide growth. However, this approach requires heat transfer coefficients for modeling heat exchanges with the external flow field, and such coefficients were obtained through empirical equations. Since different empirical equations yield varying heat transfer coefficients, the cladding temperature and predicted oxide thickness both carry a high degree of uncertainty. This research develops a new approach that integrates the fluid flow, fluid and solid heat transfer, and oxide growth correlation(s) into a single computational fluid dynamics model. We demonstrate this approach’s ability to predict oxide development on the AFIP-7 plates during two Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) irradiation cycles. The projected oxide thickness falls within the experimental measurements taken during post irradiation examination.